If it is the family selling them, well...I would be ashamed if I were they.* I was watching Flog it! the other night and an interesting selection of WWI material came up: Dead Man's Penny and accompanying parchment; a letter from his CO explaining how he died, a couple of medals etc. The grand-daughter explained that they were small items and might lose them when they moved (wtf) and that they were 'boys' things, but set a high reserve (which the items didn't meet).
As reported here, after my brother died unexpectedly a couple of years ago, a bitter ex-sister-in-law destroyed all our family records (birth certificates, marriage certificates, school reports etc) and photos including Granddad's postcards and field post cards of his service in WWI from Samoa, Egypt, Palestine, France, England, Ireland, as well as his discharge certificate & medal set - the latter items tracked down, restored and framed at considerable expense. This still angers me, and let's not get on to the 'missing' gold Omega watch, naval barometer, deactivated .455 Webley, family silverware - all of which she claims that my brother 'threw out'. Oh, and the largest personal collection of British colonial military history books. Yeah, sure, he threw them out.
*But I also understand how inherited items can become divisive, and like Solomon, sometimes it's best that no-one in the family has them!